Australian College of Nursing IHAG representative Sandy Eagar has slammed the government’s decision to disband the expert panel and replace it with a sole military surgeon.
Ms Eagar, a nurse with more than 30 years’ experience in refugee health, said 90 per cent of medical staff working in immigration detention centres were nurses and their professional needs would no longer be met.
"I am concerned that the nurses inside these detention centres won’t have access to a professional voice to speak on their behalf," she said.
Ms Eagar said the decision would impede the unfinished work of the IHAG including improving the quality of medical record systems, release from detention and early childhood assessment capacity on Christmas Island.
"We won't know anymore," she said.
"The major cause of death inside detention is suicide; I'm not sure how that information will be analysed nor how they will use the results of the analysis to improve service delivery."
But the immigration department defended sacking the expert panel, which included psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and GPs.
Department of Immigration secretary Martin Bowles said it was his decision, not the minister's, to disband the group.
"The large membership of the group made it increasingly challenging to provide balanced, consistent and timely advice in a fast-moving policy and operational environment," he said in a statement.
Former Defence Force medical officer Paul Alexander, who chaired the Immigration Health Advisory Group, will now do the job on his own.
Doctor Alexander would be able to draw on the advice of other medical professionals including a chief medical officer and staff working for the International Health and Medical Services, which provides health care in detention centres.
But Ms Eagar said the job was too great for a Doctor Alexander alone and said the strength of the IHAG was that it was independent of care provider, IHMS.
"My fear is that it is a limited scope of practice," she said. "People working on the ground in challenging conditions need a much wider voice than a surgeon."
"Often what we found on our inspection tours was not what the Immigration Department , or senior management of IHMS assumed was happening.
"There have been numerous examples whereby the reality of delivering care in often remote locations did not match the policy framework in Canberra. When you do these inspections you have to know what to look for and what questions to ask."
She said the decision also raised questions about whether one person had the capacity to be interpreting or providing oversight of the clinical governance framework.
"I think the government really does need to reconsider the stance that it has taken," she said.
Mr Bowles said he was confident the new arrangement will ensure "quality health and welfare services to all people in immigration detention."
